Veteran rockers SPOON also take part in the Xmas carol extravaganza.
For the Yuletide occasion, they picked a 1967 Xmas jingle the Fab Four from
an only-fanclub LP.
Daniel (frontman) “Recording ‘Christmas Time Is Here Again’ was a group effort
that pulled us away from rehearsals and quickly sent us down a turbulent path
of what you might call the Christmas spirit. And it’s our song with the most band
members doing vocals ever, pretty sure I’m counting four.”
Jason Pierce: “I felt like I’d been in training for this my whole life.
It’s a buzzy, psych-tinged affair spanning just under seven minutes,
carried by reverberant guitars and ultra-bright vocal harmonies.”
Lead single…
New album EVERYTHING WAS BEAUTIFUL out 25th february 2022 via Bella Union
As it goes with these sorts of albums, some are good, but most of them are dud. But
here on this tribute of an (almost) uncoverable band several interpretations actually
sound damn fine. Like Sharon Van Etten turning into a ‘Femme Fatale‘, Iggy Pop & Matt Sweeney trashing ‘European Son’, Kurt Vile running, and The National‘s maestro Matt Berninger with ‘I’m Waiting For The Man‘.
My favorite: Michael Stipe doing the LP’s opening
track, the Reed/Cale classic Sunday Morning.
Sunday morning and I’m falling
I’ve got a feeling I don’t want to know
Early dawning, Sunday morning
It’s all the streets you crossed, not so long ago
C’mon, Michael…
The full tribute…
.
(photo Stipe: cover of his single ‘Your Caprious Soul’)
Manic metalheads MOTÖRHEAD were the ace of spades when it came to
crushing the legal level of decibels with their kamikaze racket. True noise
champions, led by party animal LEMMY who would have celebrated his 76th birthday 2 days ago (born 24 Dec 1945 in Stoke-on-Trent, England)
The band canned 22 studio albums between 1975
and 2015. (Lemmy passed away on 28 December 2015).
A new photo book about the legendary trio titled FAST & LOOSE is coming next week, 30 December.
Order info here.
“From 1976 to 1982 Graham Mitchell traveled countless miles of highway with Motörhead as their tour manager and trusted friend. Fortunately, he brought along his camera. Captured through the lens of their trusted friend, those photos—many of them never seen before—have now been collected in the new book “Motorhead: Fast & Loose – Snapshots from the Graham Mitchell Archive.” The images are a gritty, intimate and authentic “insider’s view” of daily life on the road with Lemmy, Phil Taylor, and Eddie Clarke as they were setting out to take over the world.”
“With nearly two years of Covid, are any of us the same people
we were before? It’s left everyone confused and uncertain of the future.
It’s been a terrible time of loss for so many. I want to say a big thank you to all the people on the front line and in the NHS. I have such huge respect for all the nurses and doctors who’ve already been working flat out for nearly two years. These caring people are showing such extraordinary acts of kindness to others. Let’s hope they get the pay rises they rightly deserve.
I’d like to mention something that happened a few weeks ago on a walk; stopping to look
at the view, I noticed something moving in a tree right beside me. It was a Goldcrest – the smallest bird in Europe, even smaller than a wren. I stood still, hoping not to frighten it away.
Its colouring is beautiful – a peacock’s eye on each wing and a striking yellow streak on its tiny head. This gorgeous little ball of fluff flew away after ten minutes or so. I’ve only ever seen one once before and very briefly. It made my day. In these strange times, I really hope you can get the chance to stop for a moment and feel nature around you.
Please stay safe. Wishing you a restful Christmas
and hoping 2022 is a happier year for everyone.
Out: April 2022. Limited edition,
only 1000 copies.Order info here.
Content: From the man who brought forth such musical masterpieces as
Fairytale Of New York, Streams of Whiskey and A Pair of Brown Eyes, this
limited edition art folio book presents a complete psychedelic collection of
never-before-seen or published illustrations, drawings, lyrics, stories, snippets
and secretions from the pen of Shane, dating back to his childhood, and
journeying through six decades of punk and Irish revelry.
Shane: “I was always into drawing and painting, and I used to do
all sorts of things, hurlers, IRA men, teenage punks hanging around
in cafes, you name it. When I was about 11 or 12 I got heavily into
studying history of art and looking at old paintings and modern
paintings, I knew a lot about art. It’s one of the only O Levels
I got, was in art.
I like pastels but I don’t really think about it. I’ll paint or draw on anything,
with anything. I like more or less everyone from Fra Angelico and Giotto to
the latest, like Caravaggio was the last of the Renaissance, before it went
into Expressionism. I love Cezanne, Gauguin, Monet, Manet.
I love the Irish impressionists, Lavery, Jack B Yeats, Brendan Fitzpatrick.
The 20th-century impressionists who painted the period of Ireland fighting
for its freedom. I like Max Ernst, the surrealists, Dali, Chagall… God there’s
millions of them.”
